The Commandment “You shall not murder” is spray-painted on a wall leading to the Tel Aviv LGBT center where two young individuals were murdered a year ago. A masked man entered the center and opened fire on a youth group. No arrests have been made in the case.Organizers of Jerusalem Pride end a staff meeting with a group hug.

A group of young Americans were invited to the Pride House to hear three local individuals describe life in Israel as a homosexual.

A rough translation would be “Israel’s Parliament must be everyones’ Parliament.”

Binyamin Rose is the psychotherapist at the Open Clinic located inside Jerusalem’s Pride House, which is the only anonymous HIV testing center in all of Israel. He is one of those amazing people who work under extremely complicated conditions to help people in need.

A small sample of the Jerusalem Pride House’s library.

Everyone’s favorite gay couple in the office of Pride House.

An armed guard sits outside of the Pride House’s door.

The Pride goes on. I thought it was very well done, and extremely tasteful, with an obvious focus on Human Rights.

Because of last year’s shootings in Tel Aviv and the stabbing of three participants in Jerusalem’s Pride in 2005, there were over 1500 police protecting the Pride march and rally.

There were several protestors from the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, who mostly made sheep noises. When a small group of them started jumping up and down yelling protests, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Neo-Nazi groups I have encountered so many times in Eastern Europe. When one of the men started a conversation with me, I told him of this similarity between the two. He responded by saying “Good, at least they got something right.”

A lone protestor stands quietly alone along the Pride route. The Ultra-Orthox community may not be as violent as the skinhead protesters in Eastern Europe, but politically they are extremely powerful in Israel.

The Pride made its way up to a park just outside of the Parliament building.

Ayala Katz, whose son Nir Katz, was one of the victims of last year’s shootings, gave an emotional speech about her hopes of ending homophobia. Ayala now heads an LGBT support organization for parents of the LGBT community in Tel Aviv.

Participants enjoy the cool night air and listen to speeches made by members of the LGBT community.

In Tel Aviv, thousands attended a candle light march in remembrance of those injured and killed in last year’s shooting.

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About wwpproject

Charles “Chad” Meacham (Project photographer)
Charles was born just outside of Philadelphia, PA, and began traveling immediately after high school. He picked up a camera at the age of 30, and has since been fortunate to win over 20 international awards including those from National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian, and PDN magazines. The idea for this project was sparked after attending the 2009 Taipei Pride event, one of the largest pride parades in Asia.
For other examples of his work visit: http://www.charlesmeacham.com/
Sarah Baxter (Project Coordinator)
Sarah is the “blogging guru” of this project, and is contact person/organizer. Born in Athens, Ohio, Sarah enjoys traveling, and has since taken up residence in Los Angeles, NE Thailand, North Africa, and most recently in Taipei, Taiwan.